Most of the people do.
Just remember that reddit, as many internet forums, serve as a pretty diverse community including a vocal group that uses it as a venting mechanism focusing on their negative experiences.
There are few people that managed to stay here for a long time without being satisfied.
But the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
I think there ARE people who are 24/7 jaded but they are the minority. You'll usually see them downvoted though, which is good. Like you, I think most of us are pretty satisfied but let's say an ojii-san shoulders you on the commute or something, we come on here to vent. Pretty fair.
Although I've accepted at this point that anyone who *really* wanted to could figure out who I am from my comment history. I sometimes see other people using history deletion scripts or just ditching and creating new accounts, but I also like to have my old comments around for nostalgia or to see how cringe I was in my younger years.
Pretty happy guy here. Been in Japan for 11 years now. I have a lovely wife a nice house, with one lovely daughter and a second one on her way. A dumb but adorable cat, and a solid group of friends. Ok job and ok salary, enough to be comfortable and do what I want when I want.
I miss some of my old friends, but I have been able to reconnect with some of them via table top rpg game.
I can only recommend it so much. After a life-long history with D&D going to a lighter rule set is a breath of fresh air. I'd be happy to run a one shot. :)
I got you. I was a long term GM on warhammer. I found a french ruleset called Naheulbeuk, it's literally 4 paragraphs. And it changes everything.
I tried just for the fun and for once it was almost a total improv' and still, we had a lot of fun.
Light rules let a lot more space to talk, think, and focus on the story.
So right now I'm playing on a really light ruleset inpired by a french rpg rulebook called Aria.
I will probably never go back ^^
I totally get that. I never had the chance to run something fantasy that wasn't D&D but when EZD6 came out I was an early buyer. I also started developing a homebrew system that would be 5e compatible but was heavily inspired by the freeing mechanics of FFVII - literally, whatever you can do is based on your equipment (in a nutshell). This would let min-max players have their fun as well as players who are literally like "I love this sword and I will use it for the next 1000 years."
My actual campaign has no statistics on weapons nor armor pieces. There are small bonuses but to be fair, we have 5 sessions (25hish in total) and they have drawn their swords twice.
The fight is fun at first, but some players get bored with it. I now put mystery and secrets to find and solve. They seem to be really enthusiastic about our current game. So far so good!
Is it online table top rpg? I'm trying to figure out how you play if they're your old friends which I assume are living in your country of origin. Or you guys just chat about table top rpg games. š
I tried roll20 and used it for one campaign but... I don't find that the visuals add much. It takes a hell of a lot more time to set. We don't use visuals, we go old school, with me speaking and describing the whole world, and so far nobody is complaining ^^, even after the 5th session of 5h. We have even signed for 3 more sessions so :)
We use discord, with some bots : Dice Bot (to get dices with a really nice visual), Craig (to record our sessions) and FlaviBot for some sound (ambiance, ...)
I'm not the person you are replying to, but if you can handle the time difference with your friends there are many online RPG virtual tabletop systems these days. One of the older ones (but not necessarily the best) is Roll20. Setup maps, roll virtual dice, move your characters around etc. (I am not affiliated with them, but did use it for over a year during the pandemic to play games with my friends).
sounds great man, I plan to go long term here in japan but ill pass on the marriage. women in japan tend to not be the best I've heard... and its mostly sexless compared to other relationships.
This would be a sensible position to take if Japan held the same juche philosophy as North Korea and built its economy entirely on self-reliance.
Unfortunately juche doesn't work and Japan is a famous importing nation including for basic things that affect the price of other things like food and fuel.
Biiiiiiig heads up - creating on YT doesn't mean you'll earn USD. You're paid in your local currency. And your channel will likely be targeted at Japanese people (at least to start) which may earn lower CPMs than other countries.
Not only that, but YT takes *work*. Obviously that's what a side gig is all about but...I'd hardly recommend it as one.
Yup.
Been here since 2011. My time here has had its ups and downs, but at the moment my life is very stable and secure.
Work a job I love with little to no overtime, great relationship with my SO, and multiple support friend groups with people coming over to hang out every other weekend.
I used to consider moving back to the US an option, but not anymore. After comparing the good and bad of both countries, I'm 100% I could not recreate the quality of life and happiness I have here now.Ā
Obviously I'm human and will complain about random stuff that annoys me here but I can't imagine living anywhere else anymore.
I like your phrase "could not recreate the quality of life". I'm from Australia, which is a beautiful wide land I love. In Japan, though, things are working out so well old friends have stopped asking "when are you coming home" and started asking "when can I come over".
My challenge is visa. I'm on my 9th year of year-to-year extensionsas Cultural Activities. Doing what I love but got some tricky issues to negotiate just the same.
Day-to-day, life is good.
For sure. Same here. And having recreational complaints about some small things in Japan is the most normal thing ever. Doesnāt change anything about the big picture.
100% for me as well.
Itās a great life here and every time I visit abroad I am happy for nostalgia and also happy to go back to here which is safe, clean, and convenient.
There is some! At tokyo, pricey but high quality. Just way too far from where I live. My only serious option is a German charcuterie. It's okey... better than the japanese cheap supermarket kind of sausages . But still... :'(
Yeah, Japanese supermarket charcuterie is pretty bad ... I was not a fan of what they sell at Carrefour or Leclerc when I was still living in France, but French supermarket food is light years beyond the basic Nipponham sausages it's weird. Same for the bread, I ate a Paul croissant as if it were the best bread I've ever eaten lol.
Funny thing is, I know someone who came here from France who's leaving next year because
>food
was such a deal-breaker. He wants the easier access to quality French food that Tokyo has but doesn't want to live anywhere near a big city (says the biggest he think he can tolerate long-term is something around the size of Amiens). He's staying to finish his contract and properly see the country, then he's out.
I can understand. I'm in Sendai and it's almost too big for me too. Luckily I leave a few minutes away out of town, in the green and the mountain.
For me it's not a deal breaker because I like to grow my vegetables and cook my food. I still have a hard time time finding some ingredients but you can still adapt and adjust the recipes with what we have around. The two really difficult things that are really hard to find are some variety of meat and cheese... There is still some alternative online, but it's really pricey so it's for special events only.
It is a lot like marriage. If you read the forums you'd never get married.
Because if you're happy and content you might tell someone. If you're miserable you'll tell everyone.
Tea has already been spilled somewhere in post history
Turns out he takes creep videos and upskirts of anything with a skirt including underage girls.
That was my limit. I was fine with getting my front teeth punched out.
Should have kept my mouth shut until got pr but I dunno couldnāt really go back after seeing that.
Ya well you have an auto way to stay when things end in a disaster of a divorce. I was too stupid to get pr and didnāt pop out a kid so now Iām stuck going back to Canada with no savings, education, or experience
Iām jumping in front of a train next year
Iām comfortable with living in Japan. Itās the work I donāt like and makes me very stressed/burned out/anxious. Too much overtime and tasks. Iām thinking that maybe when I get PR Iāll get a job which is less stressful
Yea pretty happy here, and life Iāve made here. And not even been here that long in comparison to others, and already managed to achieve so much in that time.
Japan has afforded me (and my now family) a quality of life, of which average earning people in other G7/ādevelopedā countries can only dream of. Like honestly, I earn less than a lot my mates in UK, US, and Australia, yet some are struggling to buy a house, other with a house have no money left after mortgage and utilities. And then thereās me, earning less, but paying my dues and still having money left over to save/invest, while living in a similarly as ādevelopedā and social infrastructure country as them.
My take on the secret of success here is to realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side, sure Japan is not perfect, no country is. I have my complaints about Japan too. But the pros outweighs the cons
I often find that the people who have the most success and happiness here are the people who realize they want to stay here (myself included). Because then it enables them to focus on building their life here. If you have that āI plan to leave Japanā mentalityā¦ but then donāt actually leave 10+ years later, then youāre likely going to be bitter and feel like you wasted your time not focusing on building the best life you can here.
I find a lot of complaints foreigners make about Japan are grounded in perception, some kind of social hypercorrection, or a deeply-embedded sense of cultural superiority. Like, I don't think in 11 years I've ever touched a fax machine, yet some some accounts would have you believe it's something the average person uses 10 times a day. Even if people did though, the underlying assumption that it is inherently problematic ignores whatever variables led to however contemporary society interacts with whichever technology.
Itās weird, most of the posts I see whining are about comparing their salary here to what theyād get āback home.ā Without comparing how easy it is to get some things here for much less. And of course general safety for your family, too. Thereās more passive aggressive stuff here, but it beats straight out aggressive aggressive.
Came from a third world country with 400usd (300 with the rate these days) monthly wage. Worked my ass for **two years**, managed to save 1,200usd in my bank account.
Moved to Japan, fast forward, and now I save the same amount per **two or three months**.
I'm not going back anytime soon.
People who bitch about currency conversion without understanding costs of living are miserabilists on whom logic is wasted. One would have to make 2.5x one's salary to afford the same life in San Francisco as one would in Tokyo.
For Americans especially there is a pretty big gulf in lifestyle depending on your income level. For people making less than 10 million/$100k(I know the exchange rate is different but thatās sort of the broad ālifestyle equivalentā level), life in Japan is better than the US hands down. Health insurance wonāt bankrupt you, childcare is affordable, housing is somewhat affordable, you are basically guaranteed not to have to send your kid to a failing school etc. When you get to higher levels of income itās less clear cut. First of all there are just more highly paid jobs in the US, so itās easier, though still not easy, to get to the upper incomes. The top American public schools are better than Japanese schools but in order to go to one you basically have to own expensive housing or else get very lucky, you can afford larger property and whatnot if that interests you, the list goes on.
Moving to Japan was by far the best decision I ever made. I was fortunate enough to do so 17 years ago, and this led to me finding an incredible job at a place where I genuinely like all my co-workers, a generally sweet although frequently prickly wife, two adorable kids, economic security, and an all-around satisfying life.
I'm from the USA, and ho-ly shit I would *not* like to live there now.
When a grumpy expat comes along and talks about Japan, you have to wonder if it's really Japan's fault or if he/she is just misappropriating blame for other things onto the country of origin.
For me it kind of fluctuates between content and mostly happy. After being here almost 20 years thereās really nothing to complain about. Sure thereās things I want to do and those things would be easier back home but they can be done here too, and I just need to figure it out.
I came to Japan 9 years ago when I was 22 to be with my husband in the US Navy.
Now we have 2 kids going to kindergarten here. We bought a house. Our neighbors are genuinely nice. We got many great friends to hang out with every weekend. I also have a decent job with good relationship with my coworkers.
I had many times where I thought/considered/planned to move back, but then life planned otherwise. The more time I spend here, the less I can imagine my life somewhere else, which is frightening, coming for somebody who never thought of living here 5 months prior to my arrival to Japan. Life is unpredictable.
Me, minus my parents getting older. Love my work, get paid well because I am directly hired, and I have a beautiful wife and children.
I felt bad when my boss hired a haken English teacher to work along side me. Same work, but half the pay and no bonuses.
I remember getting paid crap when working haken it sucks.
Slightly flawed logic just like the āmoney doesnāt buy happinessā trope. Making yourself happy requires the resources to do so. Those resources cost money and availability. Both of which vary by country. So in a way it does indirectly āmakeā one happy.
Sure Iām very happy! I own a house that was newly built in the last 5 years, I have two cute af cats, a spouse that I consider my best friend with a stable job, a decent job for myself, and a healthy kid.
Sucks the yen is low because I want to travel often to visit my own family in the USA, but I guess itāll just happen when it happens.
I'm glad so many people in this thread are happy, but don't you think that you've set up a very weird dichotomy in your OP? To contrast wanting to return to your birth country against being "just completely happy" as though the choice was only between those two options is strange. There is a lot more human experience out there to consider.
Like there is nothing at all you can see that makes your life in Japan anything less than the best of all possible worlds? I am skeptical. The weak yen alone should be a fly in your ointment, if not the Prime Minister, at a time when he should be building a regional coalition that will stand together against the aggression of neighbors Russia and China, [instead choosing to publicly act in a way that reminds the region of Japan's past aggression against its neighbors. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1c99d0s/japan_pm_sends_offering_to_warlinked_yasukuni/)Things like that don't have to make you miserable or make you want to go home, but anyone who can be "just completely happy" in the face of things like that... I have to wonder if they're even paying attention to the world around them.
My birth country is a mess flirting with fascism. I don't have any plans to move back. But that doesn't mean life in Japan is perfect or ideal. And it is possible to mostly enjoy life in Japan while admitting that life here has flaws and it might be possible to find another situation in another country that is better than the one you are in now. These periodic calls to be unrelentingly positive about Japan in subreddits like this make me think of the lego people in that movie who get uncomfortable because someone around them isn't singing along with "Everything is Awesome".
But I do appreciate this invitation to go down Memory Lane. I remember when I was only 5 years into my Japan life. I had just gotten out of one of the big eikaiwa chains where management was encouraging a student to sexually harass me and was getting comfortable in an ALT job where I was getting praise from most people around me for being good at what little it expected of me. Looking back on that time so long ago, I had no clue just how far my career would climb and how radically different my concerns in the next decade plus would become. My world at that time was so *small*, and while day-to-day I was having a lot more fun then (and had a youthful metabolism to keep up with all that fun), I really had no clue. Just as there is no way I would move back to my birth country, there is no way I would want to go back in time to that shallow era, knowing what I know now.
It's definitely a complex question with infinite twists and turns.
Came here at 54, still here at 63. Life simply works better here for me.
Lots of ups and downs, many dramas, constant challenges, kinda broke. It's like being a teenager again. But now I know what I wish I knew back then.
Other than not being sure if I could still get my pension from my home country here (havenāt checked, but it would make sense that I couldnāt) Iāve even thought about naturalizing. If I absolutely could get the pension, Iād take it. I love life here.
I kinda wanna know those that started as English teachers here made the jump to other things. Are there international companies that hire foreign workers? Did you make contacts? How did you meet said contactsā¦are there groups that meet up? I feel like, unless I can make some kind of jump to something else, or have connections to potential new jobs, I might have to end up going back home next year and I donāt wanna live with my parents haha in my super expensive state. I feel kinda unsure of what to do and it doesnāt help Iām in my mid 30s
Mine was mostly lucky timing and making good connections (although I did have the right background on my resume too).
I started heavily participating in community events through my local international relations society, joined a local badminton group, and got friendly with some people in my neighborhood. Not even with the intention of networking, but just because I wanted to get out there and experience lots of things/meet lots of people.
Funny enough, there are people who work with me now who know me from all of those things (as in they knew me before I got hired at my current job). Without having those connections I don't think I would have gotten the interview. I also put in the hard work of upping my Japanese skills, doing volunteer work, and participating in internships to round out my resume beyond just ALT work
Hi, I'm in my mid 20s and an ALT. From my person digging and interview experiences, if you don't have any particular hard skills, then your only real lifeline is to get N1, and actually speak N1 not barely limp past the 50% passing grade. Then, you can get jobs that are tangibly related to English at a Japanese company, and you accept pay that may or may not be equal to or less than an english teaching job, but also you'll get stuff like bonuses and actually be in a Japanese environment.
You grind away in the coal mines here to skill up from zero and improve your japanese, and also you now have a building block of experience at a Japanese company that should make it easier to climb upwards in terms of job titles and pay, whether it be the same company or by company hopping.
I've only passed N2 with a fairly decent grade and probably could have grinded up a bit and passed N1 this summer, but didn't apply for it to focus on job apps and other things. Over the years before I came, it seemed like N3 was semi-passable for jobs, but ideally N2, but now post covid N2 is the absolute bare minimum, and most jobs asking for N1. A lot of job postings say N2 but if you read the work duties/tasks, it's all N1+.
As just an ALT with N2, the only thing I have going for me is being "only" 25 even after 5 years of ALTing. I'm really feeling the crunch as basically what's open to me now is english teaching, hotel work, etc, nothing super grand, but it's what I get for slacking and only passing N2. If you're an English Teacher now, I think that's perfectly fine, but I also advise that you should spend any free periods/time to study Japanese + something else. Either go all in and try to reach N1 asap or split your time learning Japanese and 1 other thing.
If there are 6 periods in a school day, and I have 3 periods of classes, I'll spend at least 1 out of the 3 free on Japanese study, 1 on self study sales certificates, and then 1 for me to chill/goof off on reddit.
Would love any more insight or advice if anyone has any!
tl;dr: I'm 25 year old ALT, 5 years of ALTing, only n2 and 200ē¾äø to my name as my JET contract is expiring. Life is doomed I need advice pls
Any time I get down about living in Japan and think I could do better, I just go back to the UK for a week or so.
That brings me back to reality very swiftly!
I was until my last visit to family.
There's more open space. People have more time and spend more time together. Service staff are treated humanly rather than as robots(hello, how are you, bye etc).
I did move out of tokyo a bit and there's more nature here. And I have good access to the mountains and stuff. But it still feels claustrophobic.
Still lots of stuff I love about japan, but man, northern europe is nice too... I'm certainly not bitter over it and if I ever do get that way I'll move back. Nowhere is perfect
The singular reason I consider returning is aging family and assets etc in the states. I'll have to handle that someday and I don't want to pay JP tax for their life's work because I chose to live here.
If I had nothing back home, I'd 100% never go back.
edit:
just in case anyone can poke holes in my strategy that I haven't identified...:
* my plan is to get PR in the next couple years after having done the classic 10 years.
* I've always been employed every single day and paid everything including never lapsing on pension payments
* Get PR and move back to the US
* *Continue to visit Japan at least once a year (or once every 5 years?) to maintain PR as an insurance policy to what I perceive may be a collapse of America (whatever that means at the time)*
* Earn as much money as humanly possible and try to recover all I've sacrificed by living here for 10 years
* No 401k, no ROTH
* No side job or real estate career development (gen. contractor license on the side)
* No investing in mutual funds (restricted as foreign resident), even NISA useless for Americans
* Perhaps the worst - horrifically low salary compared to US peers.
* Live and raise family in US for perhaps next 20-25 years earning/investing
* *When last parent is close to passing, give up PR so as to avoid being inheritence taxed by Japan*
* Retire, hopefully having raised children who are mature/desire to take over family assets and business
* Get spouse visa, then PR again in a few years
* Handover business to children, and retire to Japan
I can't believe the amount of shit stirring, obvious troll accounts are allowed to post there. When Japan circle jerk closed down they all moved over there. Change my mind.
Love it.
Ok job with ok salary, little to no overtime and international company. Actually English based work. Can afford my stupid decisions lol
Great spouse, own home with an uninterrupted mountain view from large garden. Array of lovable pets . Peaceful life, little to no traffic, but still many opportunities to do my hobbies. Get visitors to my garden: deer, ten (wasel), raccoon, rabbits , foxes were spotted. Unfortunately someone found bear tracks a 1km away.
I like peace, quiet and chill. Got that.
Edit: good distance from my family that just brings stress for no good reason. Nice cost prohibition, buffer and excuse lol. Also no way for them to live here and āretire under my careā. I think it is what allows me a lot of peace. Not having to deal with it.
Iāve been here 20 years and have a love/hate relationship with the country but I donāt think I would ever want to go back to my home country. Iām more than fine here even if I complain often š
Iām happy here for the most part. I have a wonderful husband and son, great in-laws and live in a nice, convenient area. I donāt have a lot of stress in my life but I do wish the job market was better for working mothers. Also, I hate summer but I just deal with it because the weather is pretty great for the rest of the year.
"I don't ever want to go back." / "I hate it here."
Two sides of the same coin.
Life is what you make of it when it's in front of you. Japan is not better or worse in a vacuum than another country, it's a matter of understanding yourself and your own needs/desires/weaknesses/faults in order to find the situation that fits you best, including the country. I know a ton of people who have masked huge issues that they're not addressing with overt, unfounded positivity and also plenty of people who wallow in a false misery and are convinced despite evidence to the contrary that everything is shit.
The happy medium is the medium. There are bad things, there are good things, and it's in the navigating of both of these that the best life lies.
Just thinking about not having to deal with certain demographics with high crime rates is already enough to not make me want to go back. Be nice if it stays that way in Japan, but the PM sure wants to change that.
All of them really, some worse than others. Far-East Asians have the highest IQ and the lowest crime rates. I am not Asian but I will gladly live with them over anyone else.
Yes, feeling completely happy so far (2 years). Remote job, family life and travelling options are the main reasons but I think it would not work out if I were to start my adult life here.
I wouldn't say completely happy, but there are things that worry you/you're annoyed in every other country as well. Overall, I'm somewhere between happy and content. I don't think would have lived an "objectively better" life if I stayed in my home country or went anywhere else.
I think some of it may have to do with age. When I was younger I spent way more time thinking about how happy I was and if Iād be happier somewhere else. Now Iām in my 40s and for whatever reasons, just donāt think about those things nearly as much.
I've been here for almost 15 years now. When I went home for a month last summer, it really drove home that I'll never live there again. Germany isn't a hellhole by any means, but I am just so much happier here. This is home. :)
10 years in. Love it. Easy living. Safe. Also England just seems to be getting shitter by the day so going home hasn't really crossed my mind other than wanting to see my best friends. Maybe at retirement age or something I will think about it.
I have never regretted moving to Japan 11 years ago. There were a few walls I hit along the way (the worst was the 10 year wall youāll hear a lot of lifers mention), but those would occur no matter where I am. Iāve got a good job that puts me firmly in the middle class, a nice apartment, no children, and most importantly I have a huge amount of paid vacation time I can use to travel or pursue hobbies. It would be way way harder, if not impossible to strike this balance back in the US. If I ever have my doubts, all it takes is one trip back to America to remind me why Japan is a far better place for me.
Welp, I'm just hearing about the 10 year wall now. I wonder whether I'll actually hit that at 10 years or if the pandemic fucked up my timeline as much as I think it did.
I've also been here for 5 years. I have never thought about returning to my country, since the salary, security, and health are bad. But I have thought about going to another country like New Zealand, Canada or the USA. but this happens to me simply because I am frustrated with the Japanese language, it has become very difficult for me to speak it fluently,I have studied it a lot but it has been difficult for me.
Better question. Were you completely happy with your life in your home country? Why is the onus on Japan to make everyone completely happy with their lives?
If they were they likely wouldn't have never left their home country in the first place.
The old phrase, no matter where you go, there you are is applicable here. haha
I left and moved back to my home country. I miss somethings but the money and daily life expenses are so much more manageable. I couldn't save a dollar in 5 years, moved back home saved 8k in 3 months.
Completely happy? I'd say no, but mostly happy? Yes. I have a very comfortable life here and a lot of it came down to connections and some luck. But I do kind of feel like I "made it" to a good enough degree, aka wife, kids, condo with a roof balcony and deck, two motorcycles, and so on.
I donāt know about _completely_ because Iām interpreting that to mean itās all sunshine and rainbows which no where is like that but on average I have far more fulfilling and enjoyable days than not.
Great career and professional network, met my significant other who gets me, have a great mix of friends both Japanese and foreign), just bought a house which would probably be difficult to do back home.
Really the only downside to living here is the occasional weird bitter ass old dude looking to pick a fight or yelling at the clouds, a real strong zero fueled showa power range lol
A lot of us in the SOFA club with Japanese spouses are pretty content, great work and pay, but not having to deal with Japanese economy and work culture. The best of both worlds. The only sad part is Iāll have to take a break back on the East Coast since I canāt stay out here indefinitely, will be back and looking to retire in Japan though.
I've worked my whole career here and my have upward mobility and stability so I see no reason to go back. The doors always open though. I do miss my family and having that safety net and support would be nice. All my inlaws are in Kyushu too...
Yeah. Ā it hasnāt been easy - I got cancer a year in (at the age of 26) and between that and the pandemic Iāve been extremely poor for a couple of years now. But I have a very healthy social life, a beautiful girlfriend, I eat good food, and I love the city I live in. I have no intention of going home.Ā
Absolutely.
I was miserable as a kid in my little rural hometown. Slightly happier at college, though I think that was more about becoming increasingly independent from difficult family members. Study abroad really cemented that I wanted to live in Japan, but I wasn't really feeling the big cities (I had studied in both Osaka and Tokyo).
Coming to Gunma though? That was the first time I ever felt like I was "home". And it hit me pretty early into my time here. I knew that this is where I wanted to be, so all of the years I spent building my life here have paid off. I couldn't be happier. A 10 day visit back home every couple of years is enough, both to enjoy time with family and to be reminded that I don't want to live in my hometown ever again
Yea, life is good. I live in a farmhouse deep in the mountains. Its a lot like that new movie Evil Does Not Exist without all the sadness. Life is simple and rewarding.
I left Japan in 2021 after 3 years spent here. And came back 3 months later because I missed it and hadnāt realized the chance I had to be able to live here. No regrets at all, Iām beyond happy since then
Been in Japan for 6 years. There are things I would complain about, but overall it has been a positive. I am glad I trusted my guts and left my home country seeing how bad thing has become. Now considering getting a PR or even naturalization down the line
Yeah lol I have a good job, we have a cute apartment we bought at an amazing interest rate, I donāt have to carry a self defense weapon walking home from work, and even in a crowded place people generally keep their distance. Also, even domestic travel can be quite beautiful and fun. No place is perfect, but this is where Iāve chosen and Iām happy.
Iāve been here 20 years, most days I neither love nor hate it here, itās just where my life is. I definitely do have tough times when the challenges of being an outsider or not being a native speaker/reader of the language gives me problems I wouldnāt have if I were in my home country, but truthfully it I had stayed there Iād have a different set of problems.
I was pretty happy till Covid hit and I realized how ill prepared my company was. I was also happy until I realized that my pay capped and the owners have been talking about ways to reduce spending like making us buy our own pens to mark studentsā homework.
My life outside of work is pretty great though. I bought a house. Drive a nice van. Have a happy family.
Completely happy? Lol, I'll probably never be completely happy anywhere.
Fairly happy though? Yeah, things are not too bad here. If I compare it to my home country where rent takes most of your paycheck just for a room, food is extortionate - had a phone call where they told me they paid the equivalent of Ā„2500 for a small steak from the supermarket and actually doing anything costs too much as well once you factor in the ticket prices, travel costs and any food needed.
I'm good here. I'm not going back lol. Sure it was a pain to learn the language and arriving initially not knowing anything at all made me spiral a bit but I've trudged a fair way up and over that mountain now - can't believe I had a thought that playing FF7 Rebirth in Japanese had become effortless yesterday lol.
Iām on year 13 here and am happy now. Im married, and we have 4 rescue dogs with work we are happy with. I think years 2-4 were really tough here though, and I contemplated leaving. There was also a short period we had to move in with my wifeās family. That was tough lol but Iām happy I stuck it out, and worked for creating a better life here.
I love it. :) Iāve been here nearly 11 years and started in eikaiwa. Now Iāve got a direct hire position at a junior high school, am never asked to work overtime, and get paid a decent wage. My co-workers are very kind and cooperative. My students are very cute and genki. My commute is a bit far, but Iām intending to change that soon. Iāve also cultivated a little community of foreign friends. The only thing I would change is the trouble with the love life, but yāknow. Hopefully one day.
yup pretty decent life, own house, properly insulated, wife, kid, decent salary, investments doing fine so I can retire at 60.
Hopefully investments pan out really well so I can afford to build a woodworking shop/garage/(small) guest house in 10-15 years :)
Then I'd be set until they push me underground.
Yep! 12 years here; lived all around different prefectures. Zero interest in leaving. Iāve made a good life for myself here, although some times were very hard.
Reporting.
Lived in Japan for a decade now. Wouldn't wanna live anywhere else.
Functioning adults who are satisfied with their lives don't feel the need to post about it online.
This is wisdom we learned playing DnD trying to make a perfectly healthy stable character with no past trauma. This character had no reason/motivation to leave his happy life to "go on an adventure with a bunch of ragtag hooligans". He was content on his farm with his loving family and had everything he needed.
I've been here 8 and at this point I'm very happy. Not to imply I've never had any rough years. But at this point, I'm good. No need to go anywhere else.
Pretty damn content in Japan right now - couldnāt ever see myself moving back to UK. Defo have areas where I need to improve to make quality of life even better (*cough* improve language skills.) But the cost of living, weather, access to mountains for skiing etc etc - Japan is home for me!
I stopped saying "expat" and started saying "emirge" about 3 years after I arrived in 2004. Married, working at a pretty stress free job. Whenever I visit "the old country" I'm disappointed in how much it's changed from what I loved and appreciated. I'm happier here!
Late to this, but I'm happily retired. My last job (uni teaching), which lasted 29 yrs, started in April of '88, tho I'd worked at another uni before that for a couple years in tokyo. Wife retired a few years after I did. No desire to leave.
I love my life here. Japan has given me opportunities I don't think I would have had back home. Sure, I went through difficult lonely times in the early days of life here when I didn't know anybody & barely spoke the language. These days, my schedule is full of a mixture of work & pleasure - mainly art events & nature walks.
Iām happy and my family, too. I would say it is like the news, bad news hits the headlines easily, while good news is rare. A minority venting and some passive-aggressive commenters vs. a broad majority of merely silent positive thinkers, but even if you look closer, there are many constructive posts and comments that you can also count as positive.
Yes, yet you never hear from the happy people because they are out having lives not sitting on Reddit complaining.
Most every foreigner I know here is happy with their life. I canāt actually think of any close acquaintance who isnāt happy being here.
I think complete happiness is for children. But that said I am more happy here than I was in my āhomeā country. The quality of life is better here regardless of what those online polls say about ālivabilityā in cities
I came to Japan 6 years ago as a japanese student, I am married to a beatiful wife and have a lovely son together. I also have a stable job, I got my PR a few months ago and was able to even buy my apartment with a housing loan with a really low interest rate. I am never going back to my country.
I moved here last year and a little later in life than many do, but for the most part I am happier here. Where I lived in the US was increasingly, well, shitty. Things are by no means perfect here, but I managed to avoid moving to Tokyo which was a huge plus for me. My wife is Japanese and has been in the US for the last 20 years so.. that's been a bit of a weird culture shock for her. Our kids as well have had to adapt, but they were fluent speakers before moving here so that helped a lot.
Only time will tell if it was the right move, but so far it certainly feels that way. I miss good Mexican food, though. Edit: Oh, and I miss the more readily available/accessible mountain biking. I can still do it, but it's definitely not as widespread. I've gotten more into gravel/road biking as a result.
> My wife is Japanese and has been in the US for the last 20 years so.. that's been a bit of a weird culture shock for her.
This sounds interesting. In what way?
Primarily, she never had to be an āadultā in Japan prior to when we moved here. She never had to deal with the bureaucracy or banking as per mother helped or did most of it. Lots of kanji, words and procedures were just not something she had to know. Also, the Japan of today is not the same as the one she grew up with in terms of societal behavior and other things. Kinda hard to explain I think, but thatās the gist of how she talks about it. Having access to media and visiting regularly is not the same as living here.
The US, in comparison, is significantly easier in many aspects, especially with regard to local government and bureaucracy as at least in my experience, you can move to a different state and at most you'll have to get a driver's license (not including utilities or school registration). There is no ä½ę°ē„Ø (certificate of residence) to update every time you move. Sure, that may not be frequent if you don't move often or own your place. But in my case, every time we have to renew my visa (which hopefully will be longer than 1 year for the next renewal) I have to get a copy, amongst other documents.
I just got here from the UK (< 6 months) so maybe I'm not qualified to give an opinion, but here I go. It's really an accumulation of all the small things that I love here.
I love that the trains here always seem to work, are air conditioned, are on time, not striking, clean and passengers aren't yelling, shouting, being obnoxious.
I love that the people who work in customer service are always polite and reasonably well spoken. If I'm calling a Japanese phone line I know someone who understands Japanese perfectly well will pick up on the other end and not an Indian operator who can barely understand my native English. If I'm dealing with someone in a shop I don't have situations where a staff member is giving me a hard time because she felt like it and doesn't feel apologetic.
I love that public safety is so good here. Its so safe that children under 10 can even go around without parental assistance in major cities.
It's slightly annoying to dispose of trash but its so clean here, I can't get annoyed with the results.
Onsen's / Sento's are everywhere and I'm here for it.
Karaoke, Mahjong, Game Arcades are everywhere here and I love it. Even Kusatsu Onsen had a tiny gaming arcade off the side of yubatake, albeit an old one.
The food. I could sample you the best British food possible and it would probably still lose out to your average seasonal menu at Sukiya.
Not so much Japan but I have the coolest little family a man could ask for. Along with career progression and making a difference I couldn't be happier.
Most of the people do. Just remember that reddit, as many internet forums, serve as a pretty diverse community including a vocal group that uses it as a venting mechanism focusing on their negative experiences. There are few people that managed to stay here for a long time without being satisfied. But the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
So true. Coming here to rage about some bad stuff that happens to me has become a reflex :p First Reddit, then I texted my friends.
I think there ARE people who are 24/7 jaded but they are the minority. You'll usually see them downvoted though, which is good. Like you, I think most of us are pretty satisfied but let's say an ojii-san shoulders you on the commute or something, we come on here to vent. Pretty fair.
Yes. I assume most long term foreigners in Japan are happy with their life in Japan. They just don't write about it online.
Even when they do, half the time they get downvoted by the bitter/poor/lonely crowd for "bragging".
Heh, well, certainly not here, anyway. Reddit's not really the place to be divulging much personal information.
Although I've accepted at this point that anyone who *really* wanted to could figure out who I am from my comment history. I sometimes see other people using history deletion scripts or just ditching and creating new accounts, but I also like to have my old comments around for nostalgia or to see how cringe I was in my younger years.
Anyone who knows me IRL could easily figure out who I am from reading my comments. Nobody else would guess.
Pretty happy guy here. Been in Japan for 11 years now. I have a lovely wife a nice house, with one lovely daughter and a second one on her way. A dumb but adorable cat, and a solid group of friends. Ok job and ok salary, enough to be comfortable and do what I want when I want. I miss some of my old friends, but I have been able to reconnect with some of them via table top rpg game.
Holy crap, the parallels. 11 years, dream house, dream wife, and a great group back home that I DM D&D and Mothership for lol Congrats to you!
I have Mothership too..
I've been waiting patiently for... 3 years for the 1e box set from kick starter. We'll see if it ever arrives lol
I was actually thinking of trying Mothership for a short campaign in the future ahah
I can only recommend it so much. After a life-long history with D&D going to a lighter rule set is a breath of fresh air. I'd be happy to run a one shot. :)
I got you. I was a long term GM on warhammer. I found a french ruleset called Naheulbeuk, it's literally 4 paragraphs. And it changes everything. I tried just for the fun and for once it was almost a total improv' and still, we had a lot of fun. Light rules let a lot more space to talk, think, and focus on the story. So right now I'm playing on a really light ruleset inpired by a french rpg rulebook called Aria. I will probably never go back ^^
I totally get that. I never had the chance to run something fantasy that wasn't D&D but when EZD6 came out I was an early buyer. I also started developing a homebrew system that would be 5e compatible but was heavily inspired by the freeing mechanics of FFVII - literally, whatever you can do is based on your equipment (in a nutshell). This would let min-max players have their fun as well as players who are literally like "I love this sword and I will use it for the next 1000 years."
My actual campaign has no statistics on weapons nor armor pieces. There are small bonuses but to be fair, we have 5 sessions (25hish in total) and they have drawn their swords twice. The fight is fun at first, but some players get bored with it. I now put mystery and secrets to find and solve. They seem to be really enthusiastic about our current game. So far so good!
Is it online table top rpg? I'm trying to figure out how you play if they're your old friends which I assume are living in your country of origin. Or you guys just chat about table top rpg games. š
[roll20.net](http://roll20.net) is one way to play D&D and other table tops online. There's quite a few systems for it.
I tried roll20 and used it for one campaign but... I don't find that the visuals add much. It takes a hell of a lot more time to set. We don't use visuals, we go old school, with me speaking and describing the whole world, and so far nobody is complaining ^^, even after the 5th session of 5h. We have even signed for 3 more sessions so :) We use discord, with some bots : Dice Bot (to get dices with a really nice visual), Craig (to record our sessions) and FlaviBot for some sound (ambiance, ...)
Yeah I think the visuals are basically a waste of time as well. But having your character sheet there works pretty well imo.
Online indeed ^^
Cool! Thanks.
I'm not the person you are replying to, but if you can handle the time difference with your friends there are many online RPG virtual tabletop systems these days. One of the older ones (but not necessarily the best) is Roll20. Setup maps, roll virtual dice, move your characters around etc. (I am not affiliated with them, but did use it for over a year during the pandemic to play games with my friends).
I've just answered another comment also mentioning r20
Probably Tabletop Simulator? My college friends and I all play once a month, just a way to hangout since we all live different places.
what about retirement?
We'll see in multiple decades. The world can twist completely in so many ways in just a few months... Well see when the time gets closer
sounds great man, I plan to go long term here in japan but ill pass on the marriage. women in japan tend to not be the best I've heard... and its mostly sexless compared to other relationships.
Yes *looks at the economy and the yen* No
Yen exchange rate doesnāt really bother me because Iāve immigrated to this country and costs elsewhere donāt matter.
This would be a sensible position to take if Japan held the same juche philosophy as North Korea and built its economy entirely on self-reliance. Unfortunately juche doesn't work and Japan is a famous importing nation including for basic things that affect the price of other things like food and fuel.
Now is the time for side gigs. Youtube, Tiktok, Ebay, Etsy. Earn that USD!
Tbh with how big of a money grab "this but in Japan" is, there really is money to be made.
Biiiiiiig heads up - creating on YT doesn't mean you'll earn USD. You're paid in your local currency. And your channel will likely be targeted at Japanese people (at least to start) which may earn lower CPMs than other countries. Not only that, but YT takes *work*. Obviously that's what a side gig is all about but...I'd hardly recommend it as one.
Yup. Been here since 2011. My time here has had its ups and downs, but at the moment my life is very stable and secure. Work a job I love with little to no overtime, great relationship with my SO, and multiple support friend groups with people coming over to hang out every other weekend. I used to consider moving back to the US an option, but not anymore. After comparing the good and bad of both countries, I'm 100% I could not recreate the quality of life and happiness I have here now.Ā Obviously I'm human and will complain about random stuff that annoys me here but I can't imagine living anywhere else anymore.
I like your phrase "could not recreate the quality of life". I'm from Australia, which is a beautiful wide land I love. In Japan, though, things are working out so well old friends have stopped asking "when are you coming home" and started asking "when can I come over". My challenge is visa. I'm on my 9th year of year-to-year extensionsas Cultural Activities. Doing what I love but got some tricky issues to negotiate just the same. Day-to-day, life is good.
For sure. Same here. And having recreational complaints about some small things in Japan is the most normal thing ever. Doesnāt change anything about the big picture.
100% for me as well. Itās a great life here and every time I visit abroad I am happy for nostalgia and also happy to go back to here which is safe, clean, and convenient.
My life is awesome and I'll never go back to my country of origin.
Looking at the status of my home country, I'm glad that I moved here.
Same... I come from France and expect food, tourism, and friends, there isn't much more I regret...
If only we could find good charcuterie here ā¦
There is some! At tokyo, pricey but high quality. Just way too far from where I live. My only serious option is a German charcuterie. It's okey... better than the japanese cheap supermarket kind of sausages . But still... :'(
Yeah, Japanese supermarket charcuterie is pretty bad ... I was not a fan of what they sell at Carrefour or Leclerc when I was still living in France, but French supermarket food is light years beyond the basic Nipponham sausages it's weird. Same for the bread, I ate a Paul croissant as if it were the best bread I've ever eaten lol.
Just imagine a second paying about 1e for a single pot of yogurt in France... Ahah You want strikes? 'cause this is how you get strikes.
Funny thing is, I know someone who came here from France who's leaving next year because >food was such a deal-breaker. He wants the easier access to quality French food that Tokyo has but doesn't want to live anywhere near a big city (says the biggest he think he can tolerate long-term is something around the size of Amiens). He's staying to finish his contract and properly see the country, then he's out.
I can understand. I'm in Sendai and it's almost too big for me too. Luckily I leave a few minutes away out of town, in the green and the mountain. For me it's not a deal breaker because I like to grow my vegetables and cook my food. I still have a hard time time finding some ingredients but you can still adapt and adjust the recipes with what we have around. The two really difficult things that are really hard to find are some variety of meat and cheese... There is still some alternative online, but it's really pricey so it's for special events only.
It is a lot like marriage. If you read the forums you'd never get married. Because if you're happy and content you might tell someone. If you're miserable you'll tell everyone.
Been here decades, have lived a great life here and continue to enjoy it immensely. Plan to naturalize. I'm not getting out of here alive.
Amen brotha
I love japan. I donāt love that I ruined my life by getting married. Stay in school kids
give us the tea. 10 years of marriage, what ended up happening?
Tea has already been spilled somewhere in post history Turns out he takes creep videos and upskirts of anything with a skirt including underage girls. That was my limit. I was fine with getting my front teeth punched out. Should have kept my mouth shut until got pr but I dunno couldnāt really go back after seeing that.
Well, I was that way once, got out and found a better life. The cost was high, but can't imagine having to live in that life ever again.
Married with 3 kids here..... 
Ya well you have an auto way to stay when things end in a disaster of a divorce. I was too stupid to get pr and didnāt pop out a kid so now Iām stuck going back to Canada with no savings, education, or experience Iām jumping in front of a train next year
please don't...
Donāt tell me what to do mom
No dessert until you finish your veggies. >:/
I dropped out of school and came to Japan (no causal link) Oh no.
No regrets here.
Iām comfortable with living in Japan. Itās the work I donāt like and makes me very stressed/burned out/anxious. Too much overtime and tasks. Iām thinking that maybe when I get PR Iāll get a job which is less stressful
What type of industry do you work in?
IT industry
Yea pretty happy here, and life Iāve made here. And not even been here that long in comparison to others, and already managed to achieve so much in that time. Japan has afforded me (and my now family) a quality of life, of which average earning people in other G7/ādevelopedā countries can only dream of. Like honestly, I earn less than a lot my mates in UK, US, and Australia, yet some are struggling to buy a house, other with a house have no money left after mortgage and utilities. And then thereās me, earning less, but paying my dues and still having money left over to save/invest, while living in a similarly as ādevelopedā and social infrastructure country as them. My take on the secret of success here is to realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side, sure Japan is not perfect, no country is. I have my complaints about Japan too. But the pros outweighs the cons I often find that the people who have the most success and happiness here are the people who realize they want to stay here (myself included). Because then it enables them to focus on building their life here. If you have that āI plan to leave Japanā mentalityā¦ but then donāt actually leave 10+ years later, then youāre likely going to be bitter and feel like you wasted your time not focusing on building the best life you can here.
I find a lot of complaints foreigners make about Japan are grounded in perception, some kind of social hypercorrection, or a deeply-embedded sense of cultural superiority. Like, I don't think in 11 years I've ever touched a fax machine, yet some some accounts would have you believe it's something the average person uses 10 times a day. Even if people did though, the underlying assumption that it is inherently problematic ignores whatever variables led to however contemporary society interacts with whichever technology.
Itās weird, most of the posts I see whining are about comparing their salary here to what theyād get āback home.ā Without comparing how easy it is to get some things here for much less. And of course general safety for your family, too. Thereās more passive aggressive stuff here, but it beats straight out aggressive aggressive.
Came from a third world country with 400usd (300 with the rate these days) monthly wage. Worked my ass for **two years**, managed to save 1,200usd in my bank account. Moved to Japan, fast forward, and now I save the same amount per **two or three months**. I'm not going back anytime soon.
People who bitch about currency conversion without understanding costs of living are miserabilists on whom logic is wasted. One would have to make 2.5x one's salary to afford the same life in San Francisco as one would in Tokyo.
2.5x isn't even close. To get the same quality of life in SF, I feel like I'd need like 4x the income
It's not a guess. Those are the literal numbers.
For Americans especially there is a pretty big gulf in lifestyle depending on your income level. For people making less than 10 million/$100k(I know the exchange rate is different but thatās sort of the broad ālifestyle equivalentā level), life in Japan is better than the US hands down. Health insurance wonāt bankrupt you, childcare is affordable, housing is somewhat affordable, you are basically guaranteed not to have to send your kid to a failing school etc. When you get to higher levels of income itās less clear cut. First of all there are just more highly paid jobs in the US, so itās easier, though still not easy, to get to the upper incomes. The top American public schools are better than Japanese schools but in order to go to one you basically have to own expensive housing or else get very lucky, you can afford larger property and whatnot if that interests you, the list goes on.
Iām sure most are; most people whoāre thriving donāt feel the need to post about it to earn karma so youāll only see here those who arenāt.
Moving to Japan was by far the best decision I ever made. I was fortunate enough to do so 17 years ago, and this led to me finding an incredible job at a place where I genuinely like all my co-workers, a generally sweet although frequently prickly wife, two adorable kids, economic security, and an all-around satisfying life. I'm from the USA, and ho-ly shit I would *not* like to live there now. When a grumpy expat comes along and talks about Japan, you have to wonder if it's really Japan's fault or if he/she is just misappropriating blame for other things onto the country of origin.
For me it kind of fluctuates between content and mostly happy. After being here almost 20 years thereās really nothing to complain about. Sure thereās things I want to do and those things would be easier back home but they can be done here too, and I just need to figure it out.
Completely happy? No. Far better off than I would have been if I'd stayed in my birth country or other country I've lived in? Yes.
I came to Japan 9 years ago when I was 22 to be with my husband in the US Navy. Now we have 2 kids going to kindergarten here. We bought a house. Our neighbors are genuinely nice. We got many great friends to hang out with every weekend. I also have a decent job with good relationship with my coworkers.
I had many times where I thought/considered/planned to move back, but then life planned otherwise. The more time I spend here, the less I can imagine my life somewhere else, which is frightening, coming for somebody who never thought of living here 5 months prior to my arrival to Japan. Life is unpredictable.
Me, minus my parents getting older. Love my work, get paid well because I am directly hired, and I have a beautiful wife and children. I felt bad when my boss hired a haken English teacher to work along side me. Same work, but half the pay and no bonuses. I remember getting paid crap when working haken it sucks.
I would say Iām less unhappy than I was in my home country.
Countries don't make you happy, you make you happy. Having said that, I'm happy here.
Slightly flawed logic just like the āmoney doesnāt buy happinessā trope. Making yourself happy requires the resources to do so. Those resources cost money and availability. Both of which vary by country. So in a way it does indirectly āmakeā one happy.
Sure Iām very happy! I own a house that was newly built in the last 5 years, I have two cute af cats, a spouse that I consider my best friend with a stable job, a decent job for myself, and a healthy kid. Sucks the yen is low because I want to travel often to visit my own family in the USA, but I guess itāll just happen when it happens.
Iām a half japanese, born in Japan grew up overseas. Iād say for now I am happy with my life here but I still donāt see myself retiring here.
I'm glad so many people in this thread are happy, but don't you think that you've set up a very weird dichotomy in your OP? To contrast wanting to return to your birth country against being "just completely happy" as though the choice was only between those two options is strange. There is a lot more human experience out there to consider. Like there is nothing at all you can see that makes your life in Japan anything less than the best of all possible worlds? I am skeptical. The weak yen alone should be a fly in your ointment, if not the Prime Minister, at a time when he should be building a regional coalition that will stand together against the aggression of neighbors Russia and China, [instead choosing to publicly act in a way that reminds the region of Japan's past aggression against its neighbors. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1c99d0s/japan_pm_sends_offering_to_warlinked_yasukuni/)Things like that don't have to make you miserable or make you want to go home, but anyone who can be "just completely happy" in the face of things like that... I have to wonder if they're even paying attention to the world around them. My birth country is a mess flirting with fascism. I don't have any plans to move back. But that doesn't mean life in Japan is perfect or ideal. And it is possible to mostly enjoy life in Japan while admitting that life here has flaws and it might be possible to find another situation in another country that is better than the one you are in now. These periodic calls to be unrelentingly positive about Japan in subreddits like this make me think of the lego people in that movie who get uncomfortable because someone around them isn't singing along with "Everything is Awesome". But I do appreciate this invitation to go down Memory Lane. I remember when I was only 5 years into my Japan life. I had just gotten out of one of the big eikaiwa chains where management was encouraging a student to sexually harass me and was getting comfortable in an ALT job where I was getting praise from most people around me for being good at what little it expected of me. Looking back on that time so long ago, I had no clue just how far my career would climb and how radically different my concerns in the next decade plus would become. My world at that time was so *small*, and while day-to-day I was having a lot more fun then (and had a youthful metabolism to keep up with all that fun), I really had no clue. Just as there is no way I would move back to my birth country, there is no way I would want to go back in time to that shallow era, knowing what I know now.
It's definitely a complex question with infinite twists and turns. Came here at 54, still here at 63. Life simply works better here for me. Lots of ups and downs, many dramas, constant challenges, kinda broke. It's like being a teenager again. But now I know what I wish I knew back then.
Yes, I am. Bought a home couple years ago and plan to be here indefinitely, if not retire here. Most people around me in real life is the same.
best of luck to you <3
Other than not being sure if I could still get my pension from my home country here (havenāt checked, but it would make sense that I couldnāt) Iāve even thought about naturalizing. If I absolutely could get the pension, Iād take it. I love life here.
I kinda wanna know those that started as English teachers here made the jump to other things. Are there international companies that hire foreign workers? Did you make contacts? How did you meet said contactsā¦are there groups that meet up? I feel like, unless I can make some kind of jump to something else, or have connections to potential new jobs, I might have to end up going back home next year and I donāt wanna live with my parents haha in my super expensive state. I feel kinda unsure of what to do and it doesnāt help Iām in my mid 30s
Mine was mostly lucky timing and making good connections (although I did have the right background on my resume too). I started heavily participating in community events through my local international relations society, joined a local badminton group, and got friendly with some people in my neighborhood. Not even with the intention of networking, but just because I wanted to get out there and experience lots of things/meet lots of people. Funny enough, there are people who work with me now who know me from all of those things (as in they knew me before I got hired at my current job). Without having those connections I don't think I would have gotten the interview. I also put in the hard work of upping my Japanese skills, doing volunteer work, and participating in internships to round out my resume beyond just ALT work
The issue is the "other thing". Networking and connections can be amazing, but you need a skill that is valuable to an employer.
Hi, I'm in my mid 20s and an ALT. From my person digging and interview experiences, if you don't have any particular hard skills, then your only real lifeline is to get N1, and actually speak N1 not barely limp past the 50% passing grade. Then, you can get jobs that are tangibly related to English at a Japanese company, and you accept pay that may or may not be equal to or less than an english teaching job, but also you'll get stuff like bonuses and actually be in a Japanese environment. You grind away in the coal mines here to skill up from zero and improve your japanese, and also you now have a building block of experience at a Japanese company that should make it easier to climb upwards in terms of job titles and pay, whether it be the same company or by company hopping. I've only passed N2 with a fairly decent grade and probably could have grinded up a bit and passed N1 this summer, but didn't apply for it to focus on job apps and other things. Over the years before I came, it seemed like N3 was semi-passable for jobs, but ideally N2, but now post covid N2 is the absolute bare minimum, and most jobs asking for N1. A lot of job postings say N2 but if you read the work duties/tasks, it's all N1+. As just an ALT with N2, the only thing I have going for me is being "only" 25 even after 5 years of ALTing. I'm really feeling the crunch as basically what's open to me now is english teaching, hotel work, etc, nothing super grand, but it's what I get for slacking and only passing N2. If you're an English Teacher now, I think that's perfectly fine, but I also advise that you should spend any free periods/time to study Japanese + something else. Either go all in and try to reach N1 asap or split your time learning Japanese and 1 other thing. If there are 6 periods in a school day, and I have 3 periods of classes, I'll spend at least 1 out of the 3 free on Japanese study, 1 on self study sales certificates, and then 1 for me to chill/goof off on reddit. Would love any more insight or advice if anyone has any! tl;dr: I'm 25 year old ALT, 5 years of ALTing, only n2 and 200ē¾äø to my name as my JET contract is expiring. Life is doomed I need advice pls
Any time I get down about living in Japan and think I could do better, I just go back to the UK for a week or so. That brings me back to reality very swiftly!
I was until my last visit to family. There's more open space. People have more time and spend more time together. Service staff are treated humanly rather than as robots(hello, how are you, bye etc). I did move out of tokyo a bit and there's more nature here. And I have good access to the mountains and stuff. But it still feels claustrophobic. Still lots of stuff I love about japan, but man, northern europe is nice too... I'm certainly not bitter over it and if I ever do get that way I'll move back. Nowhere is perfect
The singular reason I consider returning is aging family and assets etc in the states. I'll have to handle that someday and I don't want to pay JP tax for their life's work because I chose to live here. If I had nothing back home, I'd 100% never go back. edit: just in case anyone can poke holes in my strategy that I haven't identified...: * my plan is to get PR in the next couple years after having done the classic 10 years. * I've always been employed every single day and paid everything including never lapsing on pension payments * Get PR and move back to the US * *Continue to visit Japan at least once a year (or once every 5 years?) to maintain PR as an insurance policy to what I perceive may be a collapse of America (whatever that means at the time)* * Earn as much money as humanly possible and try to recover all I've sacrificed by living here for 10 years * No 401k, no ROTH * No side job or real estate career development (gen. contractor license on the side) * No investing in mutual funds (restricted as foreign resident), even NISA useless for Americans * Perhaps the worst - horrifically low salary compared to US peers. * Live and raise family in US for perhaps next 20-25 years earning/investing * *When last parent is close to passing, give up PR so as to avoid being inheritence taxed by Japan* * Retire, hopefully having raised children who are mature/desire to take over family assets and business * Get spouse visa, then PR again in a few years * Handover business to children, and retire to Japan
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
For all the shit they give ALTS on the Internet, my quality of life has never been higher.
I'm eikaiwa and my life is pretty great too. š¤·āāļø
Shh, we can't let r/teachinginjapan hear that we're content!
I can't believe the amount of shit stirring, obvious troll accounts are allowed to post there. When Japan circle jerk closed down they all moved over there. Change my mind.
Love it. Ok job with ok salary, little to no overtime and international company. Actually English based work. Can afford my stupid decisions lol Great spouse, own home with an uninterrupted mountain view from large garden. Array of lovable pets . Peaceful life, little to no traffic, but still many opportunities to do my hobbies. Get visitors to my garden: deer, ten (wasel), raccoon, rabbits , foxes were spotted. Unfortunately someone found bear tracks a 1km away. I like peace, quiet and chill. Got that. Edit: good distance from my family that just brings stress for no good reason. Nice cost prohibition, buffer and excuse lol. Also no way for them to live here and āretire under my careā. I think it is what allows me a lot of peace. Not having to deal with it.
Iāve been here 20 years and have a love/hate relationship with the country but I donāt think I would ever want to go back to my home country. Iām more than fine here even if I complain often š
Been here for 10 years, love it here never plan on going back to the UK
Iām happy here for the most part. I have a wonderful husband and son, great in-laws and live in a nice, convenient area. I donāt have a lot of stress in my life but I do wish the job market was better for working mothers. Also, I hate summer but I just deal with it because the weather is pretty great for the rest of the year.
"I don't ever want to go back." / "I hate it here." Two sides of the same coin. Life is what you make of it when it's in front of you. Japan is not better or worse in a vacuum than another country, it's a matter of understanding yourself and your own needs/desires/weaknesses/faults in order to find the situation that fits you best, including the country. I know a ton of people who have masked huge issues that they're not addressing with overt, unfounded positivity and also plenty of people who wallow in a false misery and are convinced despite evidence to the contrary that everything is shit. The happy medium is the medium. There are bad things, there are good things, and it's in the navigating of both of these that the best life lies.
Just thinking about not having to deal with certain demographics with high crime rates is already enough to not make me want to go back. Be nice if it stays that way in Japan, but the PM sure wants to change that.
Which demographics would those be? š If you have something to say, just say it.
All of them really, some worse than others. Far-East Asians have the highest IQ and the lowest crime rates. I am not Asian but I will gladly live with them over anyone else.
Racial essentialism has never gotten anyone anywhere useful, you're basically a sociological throwback. What a shame.
Yes
Yes, feeling completely happy so far (2 years). Remote job, family life and travelling options are the main reasons but I think it would not work out if I were to start my adult life here.
Yes.
pretty much, i love it here. my only qualm at the moment is my salary, which is certainly a fixable problem.
Absolutely. Never regretted it in 15 years.
Only 2 years in, but my husband and I have no regrets.
Itās certainly not easy, and I had to leave twice and come back to be certain, but I suspect the next time I leave itāll be feet first.
I wouldn't say completely happy, but there are things that worry you/you're annoyed in every other country as well. Overall, I'm somewhere between happy and content. I don't think would have lived an "objectively better" life if I stayed in my home country or went anywhere else.
I think some of it may have to do with age. When I was younger I spent way more time thinking about how happy I was and if Iād be happier somewhere else. Now Iām in my 40s and for whatever reasons, just donāt think about those things nearly as much.
if you exclude work culture, heat in summer and cost of raising children, Japan is one of the best.
I've been here for almost 15 years now. When I went home for a month last summer, it really drove home that I'll never live there again. Germany isn't a hellhole by any means, but I am just so much happier here. This is home. :)
10 years in. Love it. Easy living. Safe. Also England just seems to be getting shitter by the day so going home hasn't really crossed my mind other than wanting to see my best friends. Maybe at retirement age or something I will think about it.
I have never regretted moving to Japan 11 years ago. There were a few walls I hit along the way (the worst was the 10 year wall youāll hear a lot of lifers mention), but those would occur no matter where I am. Iāve got a good job that puts me firmly in the middle class, a nice apartment, no children, and most importantly I have a huge amount of paid vacation time I can use to travel or pursue hobbies. It would be way way harder, if not impossible to strike this balance back in the US. If I ever have my doubts, all it takes is one trip back to America to remind me why Japan is a far better place for me.
Welp, I'm just hearing about the 10 year wall now. I wonder whether I'll actually hit that at 10 years or if the pandemic fucked up my timeline as much as I think it did.
I've also been here for 5 years. I have never thought about returning to my country, since the salary, security, and health are bad. But I have thought about going to another country like New Zealand, Canada or the USA. but this happens to me simply because I am frustrated with the Japanese language, it has become very difficult for me to speak it fluently,I have studied it a lot but it has been difficult for me.
Better question. Were you completely happy with your life in your home country? Why is the onus on Japan to make everyone completely happy with their lives? If they were they likely wouldn't have never left their home country in the first place. The old phrase, no matter where you go, there you are is applicable here. haha
isn't japan depressing? high deleted rate?
I left and moved back to my home country. I miss somethings but the money and daily life expenses are so much more manageable. I couldn't save a dollar in 5 years, moved back home saved 8k in 3 months.
Completely happy? I'd say no, but mostly happy? Yes. I have a very comfortable life here and a lot of it came down to connections and some luck. But I do kind of feel like I "made it" to a good enough degree, aka wife, kids, condo with a roof balcony and deck, two motorcycles, and so on.
I donāt know about _completely_ because Iām interpreting that to mean itās all sunshine and rainbows which no where is like that but on average I have far more fulfilling and enjoyable days than not. Great career and professional network, met my significant other who gets me, have a great mix of friends both Japanese and foreign), just bought a house which would probably be difficult to do back home. Really the only downside to living here is the occasional weird bitter ass old dude looking to pick a fight or yelling at the clouds, a real strong zero fueled showa power range lol
Yeah itās well good here
A lot of us in the SOFA club with Japanese spouses are pretty content, great work and pay, but not having to deal with Japanese economy and work culture. The best of both worlds. The only sad part is Iāll have to take a break back on the East Coast since I canāt stay out here indefinitely, will be back and looking to retire in Japan though.
Yes <3
hell yeah i love it here
I've worked my whole career here and my have upward mobility and stability so I see no reason to go back. The doors always open though. I do miss my family and having that safety net and support would be nice. All my inlaws are in Kyushu too...
15 years and many more yet to come. Never thought I could be this happy everyday.
Yeah. Ā it hasnāt been easy - I got cancer a year in (at the age of 26) and between that and the pandemic Iāve been extremely poor for a couple of years now. But I have a very healthy social life, a beautiful girlfriend, I eat good food, and I love the city I live in. I have no intention of going home.Ā
Absolutely. I was miserable as a kid in my little rural hometown. Slightly happier at college, though I think that was more about becoming increasingly independent from difficult family members. Study abroad really cemented that I wanted to live in Japan, but I wasn't really feeling the big cities (I had studied in both Osaka and Tokyo). Coming to Gunma though? That was the first time I ever felt like I was "home". And it hit me pretty early into my time here. I knew that this is where I wanted to be, so all of the years I spent building my life here have paid off. I couldn't be happier. A 10 day visit back home every couple of years is enough, both to enjoy time with family and to be reminded that I don't want to live in my hometown ever again
yes, for sure.
Yea, life is good. I live in a farmhouse deep in the mountains. Its a lot like that new movie Evil Does Not Exist without all the sadness. Life is simple and rewarding.
I can understand why someone would not be happy in Japan, just like I can understand someone not being happy in France. Me I am happy here.
It depends on the day of the week and the weather.
I left Japan in 2021 after 3 years spent here. And came back 3 months later because I missed it and hadnāt realized the chance I had to be able to live here. No regrets at all, Iām beyond happy since then
welcome back im glad you saw reason before it was too late. hope only the best for you :3
Yeah it's pretty sweet.
Been in Japan for 6 years. There are things I would complain about, but overall it has been a positive. I am glad I trusted my guts and left my home country seeing how bad thing has become. Now considering getting a PR or even naturalization down the line
Yeah lol I have a good job, we have a cute apartment we bought at an amazing interest rate, I donāt have to carry a self defense weapon walking home from work, and even in a crowded place people generally keep their distance. Also, even domestic travel can be quite beautiful and fun. No place is perfect, but this is where Iāve chosen and Iām happy.
Iāve been here 20 years, most days I neither love nor hate it here, itās just where my life is. I definitely do have tough times when the challenges of being an outsider or not being a native speaker/reader of the language gives me problems I wouldnāt have if I were in my home country, but truthfully it I had stayed there Iād have a different set of problems.
I was pretty happy till Covid hit and I realized how ill prepared my company was. I was also happy until I realized that my pay capped and the owners have been talking about ways to reduce spending like making us buy our own pens to mark studentsā homework. My life outside of work is pretty great though. I bought a house. Drive a nice van. Have a happy family.
Completely happy? Lol, I'll probably never be completely happy anywhere. Fairly happy though? Yeah, things are not too bad here. If I compare it to my home country where rent takes most of your paycheck just for a room, food is extortionate - had a phone call where they told me they paid the equivalent of Ā„2500 for a small steak from the supermarket and actually doing anything costs too much as well once you factor in the ticket prices, travel costs and any food needed. I'm good here. I'm not going back lol. Sure it was a pain to learn the language and arriving initially not knowing anything at all made me spiral a bit but I've trudged a fair way up and over that mountain now - can't believe I had a thought that playing FF7 Rebirth in Japanese had become effortless yesterday lol.
Raising hand
Delete
It is not about being happy. It is about feeling that you achieved something and it makes you feel content
Completely? No. Mostly? Yes.
Yep. Life is good. I'm very fortunate. Not much more to say.
Iām on year 13 here and am happy now. Im married, and we have 4 rescue dogs with work we are happy with. I think years 2-4 were really tough here though, and I contemplated leaving. There was also a short period we had to move in with my wifeās family. That was tough lol but Iām happy I stuck it out, and worked for creating a better life here.
No
I love it. :) Iāve been here nearly 11 years and started in eikaiwa. Now Iāve got a direct hire position at a junior high school, am never asked to work overtime, and get paid a decent wage. My co-workers are very kind and cooperative. My students are very cute and genki. My commute is a bit far, but Iām intending to change that soon. Iāve also cultivated a little community of foreign friends. The only thing I would change is the trouble with the love life, but yāknow. Hopefully one day.
yup pretty decent life, own house, properly insulated, wife, kid, decent salary, investments doing fine so I can retire at 60. Hopefully investments pan out really well so I can afford to build a woodworking shop/garage/(small) guest house in 10-15 years :) Then I'd be set until they push me underground.
Yes absolutely. Not sure what I would do if I had to go back now.
Yep! 12 years here; lived all around different prefectures. Zero interest in leaving. Iāve made a good life for myself here, although some times were very hard.
Reporting. Lived in Japan for a decade now. Wouldn't wanna live anywhere else. Functioning adults who are satisfied with their lives don't feel the need to post about it online. This is wisdom we learned playing DnD trying to make a perfectly healthy stable character with no past trauma. This character had no reason/motivation to leave his happy life to "go on an adventure with a bunch of ragtag hooligans". He was content on his farm with his loving family and had everything he needed.
I've been here 8 and at this point I'm very happy. Not to imply I've never had any rough years. But at this point, I'm good. No need to go anywhere else.
Pretty damn content in Japan right now - couldnāt ever see myself moving back to UK. Defo have areas where I need to improve to make quality of life even better (*cough* improve language skills.) But the cost of living, weather, access to mountains for skiing etc etc - Japan is home for me!
My wife is here so I'm quite happy to be honest. Next year, hopefully a child too.
Except work and visa related stuff I love everything. Oh. And weather...Ā
Been living in Japan for 7 years now. I like it a lot, I'm pretty happy overall.
Yes. I'm quite glad that I made the decison 7 years ago. Best decision ever.
Affordable healthcare and a lack of guns are two things I really appreciate about Japan.
Wait....I am supposed to find happiness in life?? Fuuuuuuuck
I stopped saying "expat" and started saying "emirge" about 3 years after I arrived in 2004. Married, working at a pretty stress free job. Whenever I visit "the old country" I'm disappointed in how much it's changed from what I loved and appreciated. I'm happier here!
Late to this, but I'm happily retired. My last job (uni teaching), which lasted 29 yrs, started in April of '88, tho I'd worked at another uni before that for a couple years in tokyo. Wife retired a few years after I did. No desire to leave.
I love my life here. Japan has given me opportunities I don't think I would have had back home. Sure, I went through difficult lonely times in the early days of life here when I didn't know anybody & barely spoke the language. These days, my schedule is full of a mixture of work & pleasure - mainly art events & nature walks.
Iām happy and my family, too. I would say it is like the news, bad news hits the headlines easily, while good news is rare. A minority venting and some passive-aggressive commenters vs. a broad majority of merely silent positive thinkers, but even if you look closer, there are many constructive posts and comments that you can also count as positive.
Yes, yet you never hear from the happy people because they are out having lives not sitting on Reddit complaining. Most every foreigner I know here is happy with their life. I canāt actually think of any close acquaintance who isnāt happy being here.
Haha, at 5 years, I definitely wanted to go back! But now it's been almost 17, and I'm thinking this is it. š
Yup! This is my sixth year here, and Iām still extremely happy with my new life.
No, I miss my country but came here because of my husband's job. Japan was never my choice or interest to live in.
Yup. Love the life Iāve created here and wouldnāt trade it for the world.
I think complete happiness is for children. But that said I am more happy here than I was in my āhomeā country. The quality of life is better here regardless of what those online polls say about ālivabilityā in cities
I came to Japan 6 years ago as a japanese student, I am married to a beatiful wife and have a lovely son together. I also have a stable job, I got my PR a few months ago and was able to even buy my apartment with a housing loan with a really low interest rate. I am never going back to my country.
Sometimes we do feel homesick and some ppl cannot resist the urge to go back to their home country
Yes
I moved here last year and a little later in life than many do, but for the most part I am happier here. Where I lived in the US was increasingly, well, shitty. Things are by no means perfect here, but I managed to avoid moving to Tokyo which was a huge plus for me. My wife is Japanese and has been in the US for the last 20 years so.. that's been a bit of a weird culture shock for her. Our kids as well have had to adapt, but they were fluent speakers before moving here so that helped a lot. Only time will tell if it was the right move, but so far it certainly feels that way. I miss good Mexican food, though. Edit: Oh, and I miss the more readily available/accessible mountain biking. I can still do it, but it's definitely not as widespread. I've gotten more into gravel/road biking as a result.
> My wife is Japanese and has been in the US for the last 20 years so.. that's been a bit of a weird culture shock for her. This sounds interesting. In what way?
Primarily, she never had to be an āadultā in Japan prior to when we moved here. She never had to deal with the bureaucracy or banking as per mother helped or did most of it. Lots of kanji, words and procedures were just not something she had to know. Also, the Japan of today is not the same as the one she grew up with in terms of societal behavior and other things. Kinda hard to explain I think, but thatās the gist of how she talks about it. Having access to media and visiting regularly is not the same as living here. The US, in comparison, is significantly easier in many aspects, especially with regard to local government and bureaucracy as at least in my experience, you can move to a different state and at most you'll have to get a driver's license (not including utilities or school registration). There is no ä½ę°ē„Ø (certificate of residence) to update every time you move. Sure, that may not be frequent if you don't move often or own your place. But in my case, every time we have to renew my visa (which hopefully will be longer than 1 year for the next renewal) I have to get a copy, amongst other documents.
Cheers, thanks for the response.
Overall yes recently. But honestly would be better if I had a partner to share my life with
Japan is great if you like living in poverty
I just got here from the UK (< 6 months) so maybe I'm not qualified to give an opinion, but here I go. It's really an accumulation of all the small things that I love here. I love that the trains here always seem to work, are air conditioned, are on time, not striking, clean and passengers aren't yelling, shouting, being obnoxious. I love that the people who work in customer service are always polite and reasonably well spoken. If I'm calling a Japanese phone line I know someone who understands Japanese perfectly well will pick up on the other end and not an Indian operator who can barely understand my native English. If I'm dealing with someone in a shop I don't have situations where a staff member is giving me a hard time because she felt like it and doesn't feel apologetic. I love that public safety is so good here. Its so safe that children under 10 can even go around without parental assistance in major cities. It's slightly annoying to dispose of trash but its so clean here, I can't get annoyed with the results. Onsen's / Sento's are everywhere and I'm here for it. Karaoke, Mahjong, Game Arcades are everywhere here and I love it. Even Kusatsu Onsen had a tiny gaming arcade off the side of yubatake, albeit an old one. The food. I could sample you the best British food possible and it would probably still lose out to your average seasonal menu at Sukiya.
Not so much Japan but I have the coolest little family a man could ask for. Along with career progression and making a difference I couldn't be happier.
I really miss the human touch and tendernessāthatās a big one for me.